ESPN's Mike Golic thinks that Manti Te'o, seen here during the BCS championship game, was the victim of a hoax. / Kevin C. Cox, Getty Images

by Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY Sports

by Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY Sports

ESPN's Mike Golic, the co-host of Mike & Mike in the Morning and a Notre Dame alumnus, said on his show Thursday that he believes Manti Te'o to be the victim of a Catfish-like hoax that unraveled during his All-American senior season.

"I think, and there's still a lot of questions to be answered, is it a situation where I think he may have gotten duped, hoaxed in this? Like this Catfish? I do think that's something that happened," Golic said from Mobile, Ala., where his son, who played with Te'o at Notre Dame, was practicing for the Senior Bowl on Jan. 26.

"Now, as it started to unravel or as there started to be possible signs that this maybe wasn't what it was, was there embarrassment out of Manti? Was there 'how do I come public with this now that I find out I was hoaxed, or this was a hoax?' You know, was it tough for him to do that and maybe he didn't do it and went along with it, got caught up with because of not knowing how to say it?"

Te'o is expected to speak publicly on Thursday, but Golic isn't sure if he'll say much beyond what was in the written statement released Wednesday afternoon by his representation, Creative Artists Agency.

"Do we completely believe what Manti's statement is?" Golic asked. "Jack Swarbrick, the A.D., last night said (Te'o) knew absolutely nothing the whole time and just found out when he got a call from the supposed deceased girl in December and went from there."

Golic added: "I mean, I think to ask everybody to just believe that at face value is tough as well. Because there's a lot of questions and discrepancies that still have to be filled in."

And those "questions and discrepancies" will only grow as more and more people dig into the Te'o story, Golic said.

"But all I know is, and we know this, guys, we're in this business now: the digging's not going to stop. We'll see where it goes more and more."

Said Golic, "At the end of the day, I hope this is all it is, that he completely got duped and there's going to be a ton of embarrassment to all of this, and eventually it will all go away.

"Maybe the investigation was incredibly thorough and they absolutely buy into it. And if that's the case, you feel horrible for the kid that he would get duped into something like that."